advertisement

Conant's second-half defense sinks St. Viator

Nothing comes easily when Conant plays St. Viator. And if Friday night was any indication, nothing ever will.

In their annual Friday night battle in St. Viator's Joe Majkowski Thanksgiving Tournament, Conant leveraged its height advantage and its perfect free throw shooting to pull away to a 59-48 win agains the Lions, as both teams finished the week 2-1.

"You always know what you're going to get when you come over here," said Conant coach Tom McCormack.

And after a first half where "we couldn't stop each other," according to McCormack, his club did stop the Lions in the second half.

How?

"We kept switching it up on defense," from zone to man, said high-scorer Jimmy Sotos. The Cougars junior point guard was trying all night to shake free against determined defender Kevin Murphy all night, and finally did in the second half.

"My teammates set great screens for me," Sotos said after posting 16 points on 6-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the foul line.

The most crucial plays, though, came on defense. Six-foot-seven junior Chima Oduocha, who only had 2 points, took a critical charge late to regain possession when the outcome was still in doubt. Along with 6-8 junior Mike Downing and 6-9 sophomore Ryan Davis, the trio of underclassmen combined for 17 points, 2 blocked shots and helped Conant to a huge 29-12 rebounding advantage, including 18-3 in the second half.

Tony Ziccardi and Danny Ranallo provided key relief off the bench for Sotos at point guard.

St. Viator never quite regained its offensive touch after the first half. Matt Trimberger (12 points) and Jake Stepuszek (17) used their quickness and shooting ability to combine for 23 of their combined 29 points in the first half, but they couldn't get to the rim or keep Conant from it in the second half.

"We build our program on defense," said St. Viator coach Quin Hayes. "We couldn't get a crucial stop when we needed it.

"We'll use it. We'll learn from it."

Conant may already have.

"It wasn't a real beautiful game to watch," said McCormack. "Jimmy (Sotos) and the guards did a good job. We're young. We feel like we have a lot of upside."

  Conant's Ryan Davis battles for a rebound under the basket with St. Viator's Matt Trimberger in the third quarter at St. Viator on Friday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator's Kevin Murphy tries to strip the ball away from Conant's Brandon Vinson in the third quarter at St. Viator on Friday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.